English

Even Nine-month-olds Choose Gender Specific Toys

The debate of whether nature or nurture influences a person’s development is always ongoing. Recently, a new study was released that brings up this debate, but also adds gender to the picture. The researchers observed 83 infants aged between nine months and three years as they played for three minutes. There were several different toys laid out for them to play with. The toys included a toy car, soccer ball, teddy bears, a toy cooking set, and a doll. To choose these toys, the researchers first surveyed 300 adults and asked them to think of a toy for a boy and one for a girl. The majority of respondents said ‘car’ for a boy and ‘doll’ for a girl.

Overall, the boys tended to play with the ‘boy’ toys (the car and the soccer ball) while the girls tended to play with the ‘girl’ toys, like the doll and the cooking set. Because the nine-month-old children displayed gender specific preferences, the study suggests two possibilities. Supporting the nurture side, children, even at such a young age, have already learned a large amount of information regarding gender roles and socialization. Supporting the nature side, children so young already have natural instincts for gender specific preferences. The older the children in the study, the more pronounced the gender specific preferences were.

Researchers did not find a correlation between the parent’s attitudes about gender specific toys, their parental role, or the toys that their children preferred. Even so, other studies done in the past showed that adults treat male and female babies differently. Men tend to play with boys in a physical fashion, whereas with girls they tend to just hold them rather than engage in active play. On the other hand, other studies showed that newborn boys were attracted to moving objects, whereas newborn girls were attracted to faces. This study is just another clue, and whether the nature or nurture side is responsible for the preference in children will probably remain a mystery.

[1]le nawfmonatado (nine-month-olds) is a complex noun formed by joining nawf- (nine), -monat- (month), and adding the suffix –ad- (-er-). In English, this noun literally means ‘one having nine months of age.’ This word is accompanied by the individual generic article le, meaning ‘the typical.’ The English plural form used generically is translated by the Ayola singular generic form.

[2]vonsekse specifica toyoy (gender specific toys) is a noun phrase which contains an adverb plus an adjective and literally translates to ‘toy specific in a manner concerning sex (gender).’

[3]kiwo kyu lo naturo caw lo rerajo influwats (whether nature or nurture influences) is a choice clause using the clausal word kiwo (what) and the choice-question preposition kyu (of the choice of) that literally translates to ‘which of the choice of nature or nurture.’

[4]la developyajo ji le persono (the person’s development) is a phrase containing the event abstraction noun for the intransitive verb developyare (to develop). The subject link ji links this noun to its subject le persono (person), which uses the individual generic article le to denote a typical person. In English, the plural form is sometimes used to translate a generic noun (persons = the typical person).

[5]Dze gevipucits (there was released) is a phrase using the delayed subject adverb dze (there) which is followed by the noun phrase nuva studajo kyo… which is the subject of the verb.

[6]lo sekso (gender) is a noun that translates to the gender meaning of ‘sex’ in English. It uses the collective generic article lo.

[7]zvyela ckwantu delu nawfa monatoy alu tresa djaroy (aged between nine months and three years) is a phrase that is literally translated as ‘old/young to the degree that is in the range from nine months to three years.’ In Ayola, vyela is an adjective that means ‘old (not young),’ but with the z- prefix, this meaning is neutralized to ‘old/young.’ The preposition kwantu means ‘to the degree of.’

[8]dyoy (they) is the second reference plural pronoun that refers to the second-mentioned subject infantoy (infants), the first-mentioned being recercoy (researchers).

[9]arandja (arranged) is the adjective form of the stative verb form belonging to the stative/dynamic (b/c) triplet arandjare/arandj(y/w)are (to be arranged/to become arranged/to cause to be arranged).

[10]toya caro (toy car) is a phrase containing the descriptive adjective toya, which is derived from the noun toyo (toy) and modifies the noun caro (car).

[11]aru dyoy (to them) is a prepositional phrase using the second reference plural pronoun that refers to adultoy (adults). Where English would say ‘asked them,’ Ayola needs to include the implied preposition, thus it is literally translated as ‘asked to them.’

[12]toyo cfuru le pwero ce iyo cfuru le puelo (a toy for a boy and one for a girl) is a phrase that uses the indefinite noun toyo, meaning ‘some toy.’ The link cfuru is the link form of the preposition furu (for the benefit/purpose of). In both instances it links a noun that uses the individual generic article le, meaning ‘the typical.’ This phrase also uses the class-membership pronoun iyo, which substitutes for the noun toyo and is translated in English as ‘one.’

[13]gepreferoy (preferences) is the plural form of the derived object noun of the verb preferare (to prefer) and means preferences (things preferred).

[14]dza apoyats (supporting) is a phrase using the delayed subject pronoun dza, and this phrase literally means ‘it supports.’ The phrase is followed by a clause beginning with the clausal word ke,which the pronoun dza stands for.

[15]ke (that) is a clausal word introducing the clause that is the subject of the verb for which the delayed subject pronoun dza substitutes.

[16]baca vyelenso (young age) is a noun phrase using the adjective baca (low (in degree)), which is only used before a quantity word in Ayola.

[17]hoca kwantio (large amount) is a noun phrase using the adjective hoca (high (in degree)), which is only used before a quantity word in Ayola. baca and hoca form a pair of opposites.

[18]jrespetu (regarding) is the link form of the preposition respetu meaning ‘in respect to.’

[19]le swe juna bambino (children so young) is a phrase that uses the individual generic article le meaning ‘the typical.’ Note that where English uses the plural (children), Ayola uses the singular (the typical child), making the literal translation ‘a (typical) child so young.’ The exclamatory/consequential adverb swe means ‘so’ in this translation.

[20]ecke (as) is the initial member of the coordinating connective pair translated as ‘as’ in English.

[21]cke ( .. ) is the medial member of the coordinating connective pair between clauses. There is no translation for this word in English, but in Ayola there must be a connective between two compared clauses.

[22]korelayto ji la parentay atitudoy (correlation of the parent’s attitude) is a noun phrase using the link ji (of (as subject)) which links the object (korelayto) to its subject (atitudoy).

[23]studajoy janu la paseo (studies in the past) is a noun phrase using the link janu formed from the preposition anu (in (an interval of time)).

[24]dya (he) is the first reference singular pronoun that refers to le viro. Note that English uses a plural (men) where Ayola uses a singular (the (typical) man).

[25]dyo (she) is the second reference singular pronoun that refers to le puelo. In this instance, this pronoun was assigned because of its proximity to le puelo. Note that English uses a plural (girls) where Ayola uses a singular (the (typical) girl).

[27]movya (moving) is the adjective form of the intransitive verb form belonging to the intransitive/transitive verb pair mov(y/w)are (to move / to (cause to) move).

[28]kiwo kyu la naturway caw rerajway pwolo responsats (whether the nature or nurture side is responsible) is a choice clause using the clausal pronoun kiwo (what) and the choice-question preposition kyu (of the choice of) that literally means ‘which of the choice of the nature or nurture side.’ In this instance, the connective caw (or (exclusive)) is between two adjectives.